The Saga of The Never-ending Project.....Part 1

Ever feel like what should have been a quick and easy project has turned into something else?? Well thats whats been going on at my house for the past couple months. In March, despite several warnings that "goats can read", we decided to take the giant leap of buying meat goats and chickens to help supplement our normal food shopping. I mean really, with hamburger going over 3 bucks a pound and a dozen eggs topping out at 2 dollars , it only makes sense to try and be more self-sufficient in someway, why not meat and eggs? Our intentions were of course pure, provide for our family, reduce our monthly food costs, eat healthier, all good principles, principles worth exploring. So, first things first. As with any animal project, you should make sure you have shelter and a fenced in area, after all, these animals will be providing you with food, they should have proper homes. Everyone tried their hand at ideas for the new goat pen and chicken hutch and in a short amount of time we had enough designs to begin implementing our building plans. First though, we had to go pick up our does. We opted for a shelter built into an old chain link dog kennel that we had received from someone my husband knows.

Dog Kennel with built in shelter

Dale and the girls drove over by Cataldo to pick up our breeder does so that we could start our own little mini-farm. When they arrived home, they had the cutest little girl goats! They were very very upset about having to leave their previous life. The boys carried them into their new home and wow did they raise a ruckus! You would have thought we were killing them the way they were screaming, silly goats. The girls named them Claire Bear and Chloe.

Chloe is in the red and Claire is in the green

At this point we had already started the bigger pen for the wethers and the buck we would be picking up in the next couple weeks. Here are some pictures:

floor foundation

Joshua Helping

Hand mixed concrete pour

finished floor joist system

We finished the foundation and floor joists all in one day which in itself was a minor miracle as it hadn't stopped raining for at least a month. The ground was totally soggy, like an over full sponge that can't take anymore water..squish squish squish. A short side note for you: I don't know if you can tell or not, but my husband is a contractor....this goat barn is very very well built and will not be going anywhere, EVER. I think it would take a major earthquake to move this thing. Anyway we got enough of the goat barn done to be able to pick up the 3 wether goats and a baby buck for our breeding stock. I cant seem to find any pictures at the moment oh well.

We have been working on the goat barn/ chicken pen off and on for 2 months now.  The chickens are very happy running around the yard eating bugs and mice, and the goats stripped every branch they had in their pen. The baby chicks are still in a tub, being way to small to let out to roam right now, and all is well on our mini farm. The chicken coop part of the barn is in the process of being built and is moving right along. We painted the floor a white vinyl paint to make rinsing off easier.  At this moment we have 49 animals if you count the dog,  cats and horses, oh wait we have a turtle also, that makes 50!

Part 2 Coming soon...

Random thoughts......

This past week was a rough one. Usually I would have been helping out with our churches VBS program, but I was not feeling well and decided to wait till the end of the week to help. As I was sitting around in my very quiet home (all or most of the kids were helping out with VBS this week), I decided to read a book called the" Fruit Of Her Hands" by Nancy Wilson, its about respect and the Christian woman. I never thought I had a problem with respect, until I read this book. It was harsh ! Some of the things I have said and done have not been very respectful. This is a hard thing to find out. I think I knew some of it in the back of my mind, but had not made the connections between my dis-respect and the way my kids are dis-respectful. While reading the book I made some resolutions to practice respecting, in particular my husband. I also realized that my lack of respect was a direct result of my not trusting God. All this time, I was fairly certain that trusting God was not an issue for me, but it is. He either is who he says he is or he is not. I believe he is exactly who he claims to be, and that I CAN trust him with the issues in my life. This is almost always easier to say then to do. We show it everyday in different ways and in different areas of life. It reminds me of a poem I once read called Let Go and let God, because if we don't trust him how can we let go? I have been so angry with my husband over things that are big and small and it is ALL because I did not trust God ! Not only that, if I didn't trust God how in the world was I ever going to trust my husband the way I should???? The bible commands me to be respectful to my husband, regardless of whether I think he deserves it or not. This flies in the face of currant societal norms, and is very difficult when there is no trust. The point of all this is if you truly, truly trust God the way you should as a Christian, then respect will not be so difficult because you KNOW God is concerned with your everyday journey. You KNOW he is kind and compassionate. You CAN trust him with your marriage, husband, children, work, friends, your LIFE!! So, Let Go and Let God!

LET GO AND LET GOD!

As children bring their broken toys     with tears for us to mend, I brought my broken dreams to God, because He was my friend. But then, instead of leaving Him, in peace, to work alone; I hung around and tried to help, with ways that were my own. At last, I snatched them back and cried, "How can you be so slow?" "My child," He said, "What could I do? You never did let go."

It has been a year.....

Since it has been almost a year since I started this blog,  I thought I would do a short update on the projects I started and the ones I am still working on. I have been working on being more organized....... then I started watching a show called Hoarders, and realized my condition will only get worse. I can no longer just call myself a "collector" although I would love to be able to use this definition for my illness. Fortunately for me, I am not a hoarder yet. There is still hope. That being said, I spent several days cleaning and organizing my attic that I started this time last year, and it looks WAY better then it did, you can actually walk around up there now. There is still alot of work to do but it is a start and after watching the show I have been watching, Im even more motivated to get it done than I was before.
(Insert picture here...I was gonna put up a picture but decided against it.)

The other project I was/am working on were containers for seasonal clothes and kids things. Again, my intentions where good, but I lacked motivation. You know when you look around, have no idea where in the world to start, so you just give up? Thats me. The containers are a great idea but I have been using them as a catch all for everything else, which I suppose is okay, at least most of them have made it to the attic at this point, which I did mention is looking more organized every week. I still need to get to the ones in the boys room, which are under like a 2 foot pile of clean clothes. Did I mention my kids are stacker's like me? This does not bode well for their future spouses. Hopefully they wont marry someone like them or they will never be able to walk around their homes!

As with any good collector, we need to have several projects going all at once, and no one can accuse me of being a bad collector! At this time I have no fewer than 5 projects I have started, maybe even more, if you count the attic and the containers. But for now I am only going to mention 2 that I actually finished. Yes you heard me I FINISHED a project! Dont ask me how, but I did. The first one was a set of placements, and the second one was re-covering an old chair I bought at a yard sale. I also have 2 rag quilts in the process of being done..hopefully I will finish them this year!

Yes I know the picture is sideways...I cant figure out how to get it to go right side up..On the funny side of this everyone who looking at it has their head tilted to the right making everyone in the room wonder what in the world are they looking at.

The biggest thing that has happened this year, for me anyway, is the installation of a Iron filter and water softener. For the past 5 years we have been unable to drink the water, do laundry, use the dishwasher, have an icemaker, and any number of things I took for granted when I lived on the city water system. This past month we were able to get a grant to pay for the installation of the filters and in the space of 3 days I was able to do all the above things . Have you ever heard of someone being actually happy to be able to do laundry??? Just ask someone who has been doing it at a laundry mat for years, being able to do it at home is awesome! You can get up in the middle of the night and get a glass of water, from the faucet not a jug. My tubs and sinks will no longer look like someone has been bludgeoned in them! This is even better than when I got my dryer, which was pretty awesome in itself. It is truly a blessing from God!

Well thats it for this years update, I have alot more to do to become organized, and I will probably NEVER be as organized as most,  but at least now I have a little more motivation to do it. Oh, did I mention that after nearly 25 years of marriage I have finally started a weekly menu? My husband just about had a heart attack!